Ithaca

Ithaca was the island kingdom of Odysseus in Greek mythology and one of the most important places in Homer’s Odyssey. It was the home of Odysseus, Penelope, Telemachus and Laertes, and the place Odysseus struggled for ten years to reach after the Trojan War. Small and rugged compared with richer lands, it is the goal of the whole poem and the island Odysseus calls sweeter than any foreign country (Odyssey 9.27–28).

What Was Ithaca?

Island in the Ionian Sea

Ithaca is traditionally identified with the modern Greek island of Ithaki in the Ionian Sea, near Kefalonia. Ancient writers already treated it as a real island lying among Cephallenia, Zacynthus and the Echinades (Strabo, Geography 8.2.2; 10.2.10). In myth, however, Ithaca is more than a place on a map: it is the homeland of Odysseus and the final goal of his journey after the fall of Troy.

Other Names

Ithaca is also written Ithaka, Ithake or Ithaki. These forms come from different ways of rendering the Greek name into English and modern usage. In most mythology pages, Ithaca is the usual English form. Homer says that the fountain near the town was made by three men, Ithacus, Neritus and Polyctor (Odyssey 17.205–211); the island’s mountain bears the name Neriton.

Homer’s Description

In the Odyssey, Odysseus describes Ithaca as a land with Mount Neriton, covered with waving forests, rising above it. Around it lie many islands close together: Dulichium, Same and wooded Zacynthus. Ithaca itself lies low in the sea, farthest toward the dusk, while the others lie apart toward the dawn and the sun. It is rugged, he says, but a good nurse of young men (Odyssey 9.21–28). Athena, disguised as a young shepherd, adds that it is not good for horses and is not very broad, but is not poor either: it has grain and wine, constant rain and dew, good pasture for goats and cattle, and woods and watering places (Odyssey 13.242–247). Telemachus makes the same point to Menelaus when he declines the gift of horses: Ithaca has no wide racecourses or meadows, and is better for goats than for horses (Odyssey 4.601–608). Its name, Athena says, had reached even Troy, far from the Achaean land (Odyssey 13.248–249).

Ithaca and Odysseus

King of Ithaca

Odysseus was the king of Ithaca and leader of its people. He was the son of Laertes and Anticleia, daughter of Autolycus (Odyssey 9.19; 11.84–86), husband of Penelope, and father of Telemachus. He ruled a smaller kingdom than kings such as Agamemnon or Menelaus, but he was among the wisest and most resourceful Greek heroes. In the Iliad’s Catalogue of Ships he leads the Cephallenians, who held Ithaca, Neriton, Crocylea, rugged Aegilips, Zacynthus and Samos, and the mainland opposite, with twelve ships (Iliad 2.631–637). His father Laertes had earlier won the mainland town of Nericus as lord of the Cephallenians (Odyssey 24.377–378).

Ithaca was not part of Sparta. Sparta was the kingdom of Menelaus, and in the Odyssey Telemachus travels there as a visitor from another land (Odyssey 4).

Odysseus and Penelope

Before the Trojan War, Odysseus married Penelope, the daughter of Icarius (Odyssey 1.329; Apollodorus, Library 3.10.9). Their marriage became one of the most famous examples of loyalty in Greek mythology. While Odysseus was away for twenty years (Odyssey 2.175–176), Penelope held off the suitors who tried to make her choose a new husband and take over the house.

Telemachus of Ithaca

Telemachus was a baby at the breast when Odysseus left for Troy (Odyssey 11.447–449). He grew up in Ithaca without his father, among suitors who consumed the household’s wealth. In the opening books of the Odyssey, Athena urges him to call the Ithacans to an assembly and to go to Pylos and Sparta for news of his father (Odyssey 1.253–305).

Ithaca and the Trojan War

The Oath of Tyndareus

Odysseus was one of the suitors of Helen before she married Menelaus. According to Apollodorus, Tyndareus feared that the preference of one suitor would start a quarrel among the rest. Odysseus promised a way to avoid it if Tyndareus would help him win Penelope, and advised him to make all the suitors swear to defend the chosen bridegroom against any wrong done to him over his marriage. Tyndareus did so, chose Menelaus, and asked Icarius to give Penelope to Odysseus (Apollodorus, Library 3.10.9). When Paris later took Helen to Troy, this oath drew the Greek kings into the war.

Odysseus Tries to Avoid the War

Odysseus did not want to leave Ithaca. In one famous version he pretended to be mad so that he would not have to join the Greek army. Palamedes exposed the trick by snatching Telemachus from Penelope’s arms and drawing his sword as if to kill the child; in fear for his son, Odysseus admitted that his madness was pretended, and went to the war (Apollodorus, Epitome 3.7). This story is not in Homer; the Odyssey simply says that Odysseus left Penelope a young wife and his son at the breast.

The Long Absence

The Trojan War lasted ten years, and Odysseus’ journey home lasted another ten, so Ithaca was without its king for twenty years. His absence created the crisis of the Odyssey: the palace was filled with suitors, Penelope was under pressure to remarry, and Telemachus had to grow up in a house in disorder.

Ithaca in the Odyssey

The Goal of the Journey

Ithaca is the goal of the Odyssey. On his way home Odysseus visits many strange and dangerous places, among them the land of the Cyclopes, Aeaea, the island of the Sirens, and Ogygia. None of them can replace Ithaca. Even when Calypso keeps him in her caves and wants him for her husband, he longs for home (Odyssey 1.13–15; 5.13–17; 9.27–36). Poseidon alone among the gods keeps up his anger against him (Odyssey 1.19–21).

The Palace in Disorder

While Odysseus is away, the suitors take over his palace. They feast on his animals, drink his wine, insult Telemachus, and press Penelope to marry one of them. Telemachus tells how all the best men of the islands, Dulichium, Same, wooded Zacynthus and Ithaca itself, court his mother and eat up his house (Odyssey 1.245–248). Later the number is given as fifty-two from Dulichium, twenty-four from Same, twenty from Zacynthus and twelve from Ithaca (Odyssey 16.245–253). Ithaca is therefore not only waiting for Odysseus; it is in need of restoration.

Athena’s Help

Athena protects Odysseus and guides events in Ithaca. She encourages Telemachus to speak against the suitors and to travel for news of his father (Odyssey 1.253–305). Later she helps Odysseus return in disguise, test the loyalty of his household, and prepare his revenge (Odyssey 13.372–440).

Odysseus Returns to Ithaca

The Phaeacians Bring Him Home

After many years of wandering, Odysseus reaches the land of the Phaeacians. They welcome him, hear his story, and carry him in their ship, asleep, to Ithaca. They lay him on the sand and set his gifts beside an olive tree (Odyssey 13.113–125). When he wakes, he does not at first recognize his own land, because Athena has poured a mist over it, so that he can learn how things stand before his wife and townsmen know him and before the suitors have paid for their outrage (Odyssey 13.187–196).

The Hut of Eumaeus

Odysseus first goes to the hut of Eumaeus, the loyal swineherd. This is the most important place in the Ithacan part of the Odyssey outside the palace. There Odysseus is welcomed as a stranger, meets Telemachus again, and begins the plan to take back his home (Odyssey 14–16).

Father and Son

At the hut, Odysseus declares himself to Telemachus: “No god am I… but I am your father” (Odyssey 16.187–188). Father and son are reunited after twenty years apart, and together they plan how to defeat the suitors in the palace.

The Suitors in Ithaca

Penelope’s Test

Penelope delays the suitors for years. Her most famous trick is the web she weaves as a shroud for Laertes: she promises to choose a husband when it is finished, but each night she unpicks by torchlight what she has woven by day. She deceives the suitors for three years, until one of her women betrays her in the fourth (Odyssey 2.93–110). Later she sets the contest of Odysseus’ bow, promising to follow the man who strings it and shoots an arrow through twelve axes (Odyssey 19.572–581; 21.73–79).

The Bow of Odysseus

The suitors fail to string the bow. Odysseus, still disguised as a beggar, asks to try. He strings it and sends an arrow through all the axes (Odyssey 21.404–423). This moment shows that the true king has returned and that the suitors’ time is over.

The Slaying of the Suitors

Odysseus then reveals himself and kills the suitors with the help of Telemachus, Eumaeus and Philoetius, and with Athena at his side (Odyssey 22). The palace is cleansed of those who abused his house.

Ithaca After Odysseus’ Return

Penelope and Odysseus

After the suitors are killed, Penelope tests Odysseus before accepting him. She tells Eurycleia to move the marriage bed out of the chamber; Odysseus protests that this could not be done, because he himself built the bed around a living olive tree and cut the trunk into a bedpost. No one had seen the bed but the two of them and one maid, Actoris, and at this sign Penelope’s knees and heart are loosened (Odyssey 23.177–230). Their reunion is one of the great scenes of recognition in Greek mythology.

Laertes

Odysseus then goes to his father Laertes, who is living on his farm outside the town, and makes himself known to him (Odyssey 24.205–382). Wife, son and father are all restored to him.

Peace in Ithaca

The families of the dead suitors carry the bodies out and bury them, send those from other towns home by sea, and gather in assembly; Eupeithes, father of Antinous, urges revenge, and more than half of the gathered men arm themselves and follow him, though the old seer Halitherses warns them against it (Odyssey 24.412–471). Fighting begins, but Athena calls on the Ithacans to stop. When Odysseus pursues them, Zeus hurls a thunderbolt in front of Athena, and she tells Odysseus to end the quarrel. Athena, in the form of Mentor, then sets oaths between the two sides (Odyssey 24.528–548).

Ithaca’s Role and Symbolism

The Meaning of Home

In the poem, home is not simply a palace or a throne. When Calypso and Circe each try to keep him as a husband, Odysseus says that nothing is sweeter than a man’s own country and parents, even if he lives in a rich house in a foreign land (Odyssey 9.28–36). Home is also his wife, his son, his father, his servants and his place in the community, and the poem follows him until each is restored.

A Small but Beloved Land

Homer does not present Ithaca as the richest or easiest place to live. Odysseus calls it rugged but a good nurse of young men, and Telemachus says it is a place for goats rather than horses (Odyssey 9.27; 4.605–608). Odysseus longs for Ithaca not because it is perfect but because it is his own.

Order and Disorder

Ithaca also shows the difference between order and disorder. While the king is absent, the suitors consume the household and dishonour his wife; the poem treats this as an outrage that Odysseus must repay with force, and the final settlement under Athena and Zeus restores the community (Odyssey 13.187–193; 24.531–548).

The Location of Homer’s Ithaca

Modern Ithaki

The traditional identification of Ithaca is the modern island of Ithaki, west of mainland Greece and close to Kefalonia. This island has long been linked with Odysseus and is still strongly tied to the myth in modern Greek culture.

Ancient and Modern Debate

The exact location of Homer’s Ithaca has been debated since antiquity. Strabo discusses Homer’s words for the island, including “low-lying” and “farthest toward the dusk”, together with the position of the neighbouring islands, in his Geography 10.2.10–12. Because Homer’s geography is poetic and not always easy to match with a map, modern scholars have also proposed other nearby locations, including parts of Kefalonia, and the question remains open.

Ithaca as Mythic Place

Whether Homer’s Ithaca is the same as modern Ithaki or a wider poetic landscape, its place in the story is clear. It is the place Odysseus must reach, the home Penelope protects, and the kingdom Telemachus must learn to inherit.

Ithaca in Ancient Literature

Homer’s Odyssey

The Odyssey is the main ancient source for Ithaca. The poem begins with Odysseus still far from home and ends with peace restored on the island. Books 13–24 are especially important because they describe his return to Ithaca, his disguise, the loyalty of Eumaeus, the reunion with Telemachus, the contest of the bow, the killing of the suitors, and the final settlement.

Homer’s Iliad

The Iliad also mentions Ithaca in the Catalogue of Ships. There Odysseus leads the Cephallenians from Ithaca, Neriton, Crocylea, Aegilips, Zacynthus and Samos, together with the mainland opposite, to Troy (Iliad 2.631–637). This connects Ithaca directly with the Trojan War before the events of the Odyssey.

Later Geography

Ancient geographers such as Strabo discussed Ithaca and the nearby islands while trying to explain Homer’s descriptions (Geography 10.2.10–13). These later writers show that readers in antiquity were already asking where Homer’s Ithaca should be placed in the real world.

Misconceptions and Lesser-Known Facts

Ithaca Was Not the Whole Setting of the Odyssey

A common mistake is to think the Odyssey takes place mostly in Ithaca. Much of the poem describes Odysseus’ wandering, while the first books follow Telemachus to Pylos and Sparta. Ithaca becomes the main setting only in the second half of the poem.

Odysseus Did Not Return Right After Troy

Odysseus left Troy after the Greek victory, but he did not reach Ithaca for ten more years. His return was delayed by storms, monsters, divine anger, temptation, and the loss of his men.

The Suitors Were Not Foreign Invaders

The suitors in Ithaca were not an outside army. They were young noblemen from Ithaca and the nearby islands of Dulichium, Same and Zacynthus (Odyssey 1.245–248; 16.245–253). Their fathers and kinsmen were therefore among the Ithacans and their neighbours, which is why the killing led to a further quarrel (Odyssey 24.412–471).

Penelope Was Central to Ithaca’s Survival

Although Odysseus is the returning hero, Penelope is the one who keeps the royal house from falling fully into the hands of the suitors. Her shroud trick and the contest of the bow keep the suitors waiting until Odysseus can return.

Unraveling Ithaca: The Island of Return

Ithaca is one of the most important places in Greek mythology because it is where the Odyssey ends. Odysseus sees wonders, suffers danger, and receives offers of comfort and even immortality, but he keeps asking to go home to the island he left behind.

In the story of Ithaca, the war at Troy is followed by a second struggle, for his house, his wife and his place in the community. The poem closes only when Odysseus has become king, husband, father and son again in his own land.

Ithaca Sources

Ithaca appears most fully in Homer’s Odyssey: Books 1–2 (the crisis in Odysseus’ house, 1.245–305; 2.93–110), 4.601–608, 9.19–36, 11.84–86 and 447–449, 13.113–125, 13.187–196, 13.242–249, 13.372–440, 14–16 (Eumaeus and Telemachus), 17.205–211, 19.572–581, 21.73–79 and 404–423, 22, 23.177–230 and 24.205–548 (Laertes, the families of the suitors, and the settlement). Homer’s Iliad 2.631–637 lists the men of Ithaca and the nearby islands in the Catalogue of Ships.

Apollodorus, Library 3.10.9, tells of the oath of the suitors and the marriage of Odysseus and Penelope; his Epitome 3.7 tells how Palamedes exposed the pretended madness of Odysseus. Strabo, Geography 8.2.2 and 10.2.10–13, discusses the position of Ithaca and the neighbouring islands and Homer’s words about them.

See Also: Odysseus, Penelope, Telemachus, Laertes, Eumaeus, Athena, Anticleia, Palamedes